All we have to fear . . . is the fear of giving offence

You can't be too careful. Who knows where the next affront to Islam is coming from? We must all redouble our efforts not to give offence to peace-loving Muslims.

Thank goodness our dedicated public servants are alert to anything which may amount to provocation.

If it wasn't for an eagle-eyed assistant at the Post Office, five-year-old Hannah Edwards could have unwittingly posed an intolerable insult to the Islamic faith.

Her passport application was rejected because her photograph exposed her bare shoulders. The woman behind the counter decided that this wanton and licentious display of flesh could be deemed to be offensive to Muslim sensibilities.

Hannah's mother, Jane, was outraged. But she was told that unless she resubmitted the application with a more modest photo it would not be accepted.

It's not as if Hannah and her family were heading off for a fortnight's backpacking in Afghanistan. She needed the passport to go on holiday to France, which is not a Muslim country — not yet, anyway.

None of this cut any ice with the culturally-sensitive jobsworth at the Post Office and so Mrs Edwards was forced to get Hannah's picture retaken and then spend a couple of hours filling in a new form and trying to find two 'responsible citizens' to endorse it.

Who's to say this assistant was over-reacting? Danish cartoons, the plight of the who Palestinians, a five-year-old girl's bare shoulders. It doesn't take much to upset some Muslims these days.

Her quick-thinking may have saved Hannah and her family from being taken hostage at Nice airport by a fundamentalist Islamic sect which has infiltrated French passport control.

The next thing you know, they could all be posing for a new set of pictures on a jihadist website, minus their heads. Better safe than sorry. If it saves one life, etc.

For what it's worth, I doubt that anyone but the most deranged disciple of Osama Bin Laden would be incensed by the sight of a young girl's shoulders.

But it does give us an insight into the mindset of officialdom in Britain. Most of us would conclude that the woman who rejected Hannah's passport application belongs in a padded cell, not behind a Post Office counter. She clearly has what we have come to call "issues".

But she is sadly typical of the bureaucrats and busybodies who appear to be in the grip of advanced mental illness, brought about by addiction to "diversity" and "health 'n' safety'".

Symptoms include an unnatural aversion to anything which may involve any kind of risk, real or imagined. That doesn't only cover physical harm but the slightest possibility that someone, somewhere may take offence.

That's what lay behind the ludicrous enforcement of "security" measures at Britain's airports over the weekend.

No one doubts that there was a heightened threat of an attack on board a plane following last week's arrests of suspected terrorists.

If they were planning to use liquid-based bombs then it made sense to check drinks and cosmetics being taken on board. But the complete ban on all hand luggage was absurd, as was the compulsion to search each and every passenger.

Yes, I know that at least two of the alleged plotters are white converts to Islam. But most of them are young dark-skinned men, just as were the perpetrators of 9/ 11 and the London bombers.

We keep hearing about "intelligence-led" policing, but what's intelligent about searching middle-aged matrons and forcing middle-class mums to drink their baby's milk at the check-in?

It's the height of stupidity and officiousness. And they love it.

Even the head of British Airways, who has a vested interest in planes not being blown out of the skies, was moved to protest at the rigid, unnecessary restrictions which brought chaos to Britain's airports over the weekend.

But the authorities seize on any excuse to disrupt our daily lives. Look at the way the police delight in closing motorways for hours in both directions after even minor collisions.

Apart from the possibility that liquid explosives could be smuggled on board, the risks were no greater than they were before last Thursday. There was no more reason to ban laptops, cellphones, iPods, car keys and paperbacks than there has been at any time over the past five years.

The only conclusion is that they did it because they can.

It's the easy option. It's fear of getting blamed. That same fear terrifies them from "profiling" young Muslims. Mustn't be accused of racism.

It's not a calm and defiant show of reassurance, it's blind panic, cowardice and surrender. And, regretfully, as a nation we seem to have become inured to it.

There's a streak in some of us which seems to quite enjoy being inconvenienced. Most of the passengers squatting on suitcases at Heathrow for hours on end seemed to think that by giving up their liberties and having their holidays ruined, they were "doing their bit" in the war on terror.

Yesterday, the restrictions were relaxed, but not abandoned. There was no return to the status quo of last Wednesday, even if preventing passengers taking soft drinks and shampoos in their hand luggage could be justified.

Once the authorities seize another little bit of power they are always reluctant to give it back.

So the ratchet clicks back another notch and we end up living in a country where a little girl can't have a passport photograph revealing her bare shoulders for fear of "offending" Muslims.

And all for the privilege of being allowed to queue for hours for a full cavity search in order to board a flight which has been cancelled anyway.

The Women's Institute, one of the Forces of Conservatism's few surviving big battalions, is coming over all Call Me Dave cool.

In a bid to embrace modernity, the WI is casting off its pinny and setting up stall at the Isle of Wight pop festival.

The news comes as a poll shows that the majority of the public would be happy for cannabis to be decriminalised.

Could we soon see the WI dispensing tea and hash cakes?

New militants, same old blackmail

In my former incarnation as a young industrial correspondent, Ray Buckton was the leader of the train drivers' union, Aslef.

Many's the time Buckton would explain that he was a reasonable man, but unless British Rail agreed to an immediate 35 per cent across-the-board pay rise, he wouldn't be able to hold his members back.

Reading the open letter from "moderate" Muslim MPs, peers and "community leaders" warning the Government to change its foreign policy, or else, I couldn't help thinking of Buckton.

In his case, he was threatening us with wildcat rail strikes (which he couldn't condone but was powerless to prevent, such was the anger of his members) if he didn't get what he wanted.

The "moderate" Muslims are threatening us with terrorism (which they don't condone but are powerless to prevent, etc) unless they get what they want. It's blackmail, pure and simple.

We didn't give in to Aslef bullying and we mustn't give in to Muslim bullying, either.

On Friday, I wondered why the police thought it obligatory to consult the "community" every time they arrest a Muslim terror suspect.

"I don't remember Knacker of the Yard phoning the Bishop of Stepney before he arrested the Kray Twins," I remarked.

Since then I've heard from Leonard "Nipper" Read, the policeman who did feel the collars of Ron and Reg. "You are right, of course," writes Nipper. "The only person I rang before nicking the Krays was the wife saying: "It'll be another late one again tonight.""

I don't suppose there's any chance of him coming out of retirement. I'd feel a lot more comfortable if Nipper Read, not John Reid, was running the show right now.

Anyone seen Gordon?

The Blairs' Barbados beanfeast was worth it, if only for those photos of the Wicked Witch pegging out her smalls. (Well, I say smalls.) At least we have been spared Tony's Winston Churchill routine.

But what has happened to the "real" Prime Minister, Gordon Brown?

Back in the spring we were reliably informed that Gordon had effectively taken control of all domestic policy and was drawing up plans for his new Cabinet in anticipation of sliding seamlessly into the top job. Since then, it's all gone quiet.

Not a peep out of Gordon during the current crisis. We might have expected him to use the terror emergency to mount a coup.

But, just like every other time there's been a flap on, Gordon's gone AWOL. This must be the longest bout of paternity leave on record.